Founder & CEO of Olo

Taking a moment to look down and to think of how lucky you are to be in the position that you're in is the best solution for having a bad day. Realize what a privilege it is to be where you are. Looking back is similar; it's very humbling and grounding.

There's a great song–I'm sure everybody's heard it–by Journey called Don't Stop Believing. That has been in the darkest, hardest times when we've needed to pull on our resilience and grit and determination, the song that we at Olo love to sing together to carry on the fight.

My first foodservice job was as pizza delivery driver at a place called Pizza Man. It really began my love of the restaurant industry, and specifically the takeout and delivery component.

In the early days of Olo, an early mentor of mine said, “Just don't die. Just find a way to survive, and then something will go right.” I'd like to think that we did some more good things than just survival over that time, but certainly the survival over those eight years helped with our credibility. That was critical. Without that, we couldn't have done any of what we've done since.

I read this awesome book called Solve for Happy, and it's sort of a study in equanimity. Keep a level playing field, don't let the highs get too high nor the lows get too low. Just stay steady and stay curious.